Auqib Nabi was unstoppable for Jammu and Kashmir in their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Bengal, taking a nine-wicket haul and scoring 42 runs. Bengal were dismissed for 99 in their second innings on day three. Earlier, Mohammed Shami dismissed 8 batters for 90 runs in 22.1 overs.

Chasing 126, Jammu and Kashmir were 43 for 2 at stumps and now need 83 more runs with two days left.

Akash Deep sent back Shubham Khajuria and Yawer Hasan. Shubham Pundir and Vanshaj Sharma were unbeaten on 23 and 9, respectively.

Meanwhile, J&K resumed the day on 198 for 5, but Shami rocked them. He bowled the fifth-stump line and relied on seam movement.

He got rid of Abid Mushtaq and Kanhaiya Wadhawan to reach his third five-wicket haul in the season and the 15th overall.

When Bengal were controlling the proceedings, Nabi amassed 42 runs from 54 balls to shift the momentum. He smashed five boundaries, 1 six and added 64 runs for the ninth-wicket with Yudhvir Singh, who managed 33, cutting down the deficit to 30. Shami wrapped up the innings at 302, but the damage was already done.

If Shami was clinical for Bengal, Nabi dismantled the rivals in the afternoon. He trapped Sudip Chatterjee lbw, and then Sunil Kumar took the scalp of Sudip Kumar Gharami, who scored a hundred in the first innings.

Nabi dismissed captain Abhimanyu Easwaran. Sunil and Nabi claimed four wickets each in the second innings, while Yudhvir chipped in with two scalps. With five wickets in the first innings and four in the second, Nabi took his match tally to nine wickets and his season’s count to 55 wickets. For Bengal, the collapse was alarming. For Jammu and Kashmir, a historic moment is 83 runs away.

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